LinkedIn

Manage your professional identity. Build and engage with your professional network.

Who? 225 million users, 78.8 million active users.

Why it matters: It’s the most trusted professional network: 49% of users trust word-of-mouth brand suggestion, and the average user’s 2nd degree network connects them to 6,000 companies, 130 industries, and 9,000 people.

What works?

Share content that’s valuable to your professional network.

Join LinkedIn groups and contribute to discussions.

Optimize your profile for SEO.

Ask your network for introductions, recommendations and endorsements and return the favor.

Use warm introductions.

Use the Contacts feature to sort, tag and optimize your connections.

What doesn’t work?

Don’t set up a profile and abandon it.

Don’t try to connect to people you don’t know.

Don’t join groups just to self-promote.

The opportunity:

Stay in touch with your professional network.

Manage your relationships by storing custom information.

Get connected to peers, potential partners and prospects.

Build credibility as an expert by contributing knowledge.

Your weekly checklist:

Accept invitations you’ve received.

Update your status/post content 1-2 times.

Recommend, endorse or connect a peer.

Contribute to a group discussion.

Google+

Real-life sharing rethought for the web.

Who? 500 million users, 235 million active users.

Why it matters: It’s a social “layer” on top of Google’s tools and services, and websites that use the +1 button increase page traffic by 350%.

What works?

Create a personal and a business page.

Use circles to organize your friends.

Use Google hangouts to broadcast events.

Connect your Google+ page to your website.

Engage with your audience through Google+ Events.

What doesn’t work?

Don’t assume it’s the same as Facebook.

Don’t turn off automatic sharing/integration between YouTube and Google+.

Don’t worry too much about interaction.

The opportunity:

Harness the power of Google Authorship to establish yourself as an author.

Broadcast live to your audience.

Get a boost on YouTube.

Improve your SEO (it’s Google!).

Your weekly checklist:

Post 3-5 times, adding value.

Self-promote once.

Respond to comments, give +1’s and comment on others’ posts.

Link any new blog posts to your Google+ profile.

2 More Channels for Social Media Enthusiasts

Pinterest

An online pinboard. Organize and share things you love.

Who? 25 million users (80% female).

Why it matters: It’s the best way to connect to women in your target market, and to share content that’s visual.

What works?

Optimize your website and blogs for easy pinning.

Curate great content.

Cross-promote your boards on other social media.

Self-promote in a visual way.

What doesn’t work?

Don’t use it if you won’t reach your target demographic.

Don’t pin without tracing back to the source.

Don’t pin unrelated content.

Instagram

Capture and share magic or important moments. A fast, beautiful and fun way to share your life with friends and family.

Who? 130 million users.

Why it matters: Instagram just added a video feature—and it’s growing at a rate of 10 million new users a month.